


under the mistletoe

by rosyjeongin



Series: dreaming of a white christmas | nct dream [5]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Kissing Booths, School Festivals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:40:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22657165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosyjeongin/pseuds/rosyjeongin
Summary: jaemin is on a mission.
Relationships: Na Jaemin/Reader
Series: dreaming of a white christmas | nct dream [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1591993
Kudos: 51





	under the mistletoe

There’s an excited hum in the air that comes with the end of the year. Students are restless and eager to get to winter vacation, as they converse excitedly amongst themselves about their plans. There’s also the school’s winter festival that rolls around that time of the month, right before vacation starts.

After class, Jaemin finds his friends huddled around a poster advertising the winter festival. They’re discussing amongst themselves loudly as Jaemin approaches.

“What’s going on?” he says, eyebrows raised. He peeks over their shoulders and skims over the poster.

“We’ve decided to do a booth for the school festival!” Donghyuck answers him, grinning.

“Wait, actually?” Jaemin says doubtfully. He knows his friends well, and he knows that they sort of lack the determination and consistency that you need to set up a big project like this. Nonetheless, the thought of doing something like this excites him, so he listens to them eagerly.

“Yeah, I think we could raise a lot of money from our booth if we actually tried hard enough,” Renjun says.

Jaemin clasps his hands together and looks at his friends expectantly. “So, what’s the plan?” His friends exchange guilty looks with each other.

“See, that’s the thing,” Jeno begins slowly. “We don’t really… have an idea yet.” Jaemin laughs, unsurprised.

“Shouldn’t we do a game, like a bean bag toss or something?” Donghyuck suggests, the question directed towards Jaemin.

“No, that’s lame,” Renjun retorts before Jaemin can respond. “We have to do something different. Unique!”

“Okay, what do you have then?” Donghyuck bites back. Jeno joins in, suggesting ideas that the other two quickly deemed equally as lame. They’re bickering with each other now, talking over each other in loud voices. Jaemin watches them, amused, eyes dancing back and forth between them.

He’s about to say something himself until he hears someone say in a small voice behind him, “Sorry, excuse me.” He drags his gaze away from his friends and turns his head. He feels a sudden smile grow on his face and a flutter of butterflies in his tummy when he sees you.

Jaemin has the biggest crush on you. And since forever, too. You two have known each other as acquaintances since elementary, even living across from each other in the same neighborhood as children. But you two have never known each other as close friends. And that makes Jaemin groan in frustration every night when he thinks about you, because he’s been harboring feelings for you that he has never found the courage to confess.

He gulps and feels his face burn up when he sees you standing in front of him, looking up at him, books clutched to your chest. You shoot him a small smile when you make eye contact, and it makes Jaemin’s legs turn to jelly.

His friends, who know about Jaemin’s crush on you, don’t notice you and continue their bickering, but Jaemin scoots out of the way and ducks his head apologetically.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, feeling his ears redden when you move past him to look at the poster. He stares at you, mouth slightly ajar. Jaemin quietly glances over you as your eyes read over the poster, reading out the words in quiet mumbles under your breath. He catches himself staring and averts his eyes sheepishly.

It’s not until your friend prances over to you, loudly calling your name, that Jeno, Donghyuck, and Renjun look at Jaemin and notice the absolute lovesick expression on his face. They snicker when they realize that you are standing behind them, and they pause their bickering to tease Jaemin instead.

“Hey, Jaemin, why is your face so red?” Donghyuck whispers loudly, and Jaemin scowls at him, shushing him to be quiet. The four of them are too obviously quiet now, with only the three of them silently laughing at the way Jaemin’s body stiffens up and face reddens.

When you walk away, chatting with your friend about the festival, paying no attention to the group of boys stifling their laughs unsuccessfully behind you, Jaemin’s head turns to let his gaze follow you. Jeno turns to Jaemin and clasps his shoulder as the three finally burst into laughter.

“Ah, Jaemin,” he says, laughing and pinching his cheek. “Look at you, so hopelessly in love.”

“Stop that,” Jaemin replies, batting away Jeno’s hand. “You guys nearly embarrassed me!”

“We weren’t even doing anything!” Renjun retorts. “We were just laughing at how obvious it is that you want to kiss y/n.”

“And what about it?” Jaemin scoffs proudly, a contrast to the way he was in your presence. Suddenly, at Renjun’s words, and idea pops into his mind. It formulates quickly, and he’s suddenly eager to execute it. He thinks his friends wouldn’t mind it either.

“I have an idea!” Jaemin exclaims, and they huddle together, waiting on his words. Jaemin looks around at all of them and slowly says, “What if…” They nod. “…for the winter festival…” They all look at him expectantly as he drags out his words. Renjun smacks him on the shoulder.

“Just say it, idiot!”

This provokes a grin to spread across Jaemin’s face.

“What if we did a kissing booth?”

“A kissing booth?” Jeno tilts his head doubtfully.

“Yeah, and it doesn’t have to be too much. Just like a quick kiss on the cheek or something. We don’t have to be making out with everybody in the line.”

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Donghyuck says with a conceited smile. Renjun swats the back of his head with an appalled expression on his face. Donghyuck recoils, snickering.

“Well…” Renjun begins thoughtfully, “it’s not the worst idea.”

Jeno nods in agreement. “Yeah, and I bet we would attract a lot of customers, especially if Jaemin’s a part of the booth.” Jaemin opens his mouth in protest, then closes it incredulously. He knows it’s true; the fact that he might be one of the most-liked boys in the school. But it’s also a fact that he has the most agonizing, most profound crush on you, so he refuses to acknowledge the former.

Renjun turns to Jaemin with a taunting expression on his face. “You didn’t perhaps think of this when… when y/n passed by, did you?” He raises his eyebrows and grins. The other boys snicker.

Jaemin’s face flushes, and he scratches the back of his neck. He wants to deny it, but it’s pretty obvious. “Yeah… sort of.” This encourages the boys to tease him further.

As his friends expand on this idea of a kissing booth, Jaemin quietly discusses with himself. His friends were right: this whole idea of a kissing both sprung from the single thought of you. So, Jaemin is firmly determined. He’s on a mission.

Jaemin’s going to get a kiss from you.

The next few weeks are spent preparing for the winter festival. The boys gather together often: at school, at each other’s houses, at the diner they spend a lot of time at. There’s not much to it; it’s just a kissing booth, so they don’t have to do much to their stand. But they still, surprisingly, put a lot of effort into it. They make posters, with big colorful letters, and buy cute decorations to string across their booth. Eventually, the kissing booth also becomes a hugging booth, just in case customers don’t feel comfortable. At Jeno’s suggestion, they also buy candies and snacks to put in little goodie bags that they decide to include with the purchase of a hug or a kiss.

When the day of the winter festival rolls around, the boys are ready and excited. The whole school is, too. Especially with it being the last day of school before break starts, the energy in the air is elevated. 

After school, the boys are quick to prepare for the festival. Each group doing a booth is assigned a certain spot at the front of the school. The kissing booth’s designated spot is next to a cluster of trees, next to a sandwich booth and a ring toss game. Besides the groups of friends who have set up their own booths, each homeroom is also required to make their own, so there’s no lack of things to do at the festival. There’s an abundance of variety, with booths advertising several products and services, ranging from food to activities to games. The school has also prepared performances for the night, as a sort of talent show for students.

The boys feel proud of their kissing booth, claiming it will be the best one at the festival. The posters and signs are colorful, with artwork and doodles drawn by Renjun. There are fairy lights and streamers strung across their stand, and even mistletoe hung above the front table.

As evening falls, the temperature drops. Thankfully, there’s no snow for the night, but it’s still chilly enough to see your breath materialize in front of you in small puffs. The lamps in the school’s front yard turn on and illuminate the festival with a soft light. The booths and the people running them wait patiently for the festival to begin, already filling the air with an exciting spirit. 

At the kissing booth. the boys are eager to begin. All of them are clad in warm clothing, comfy sweatshirts and beanies atop their heads. Donghyuck is forcing everyone to spray breath freshener, and Renjun swats it away from his mouth, claiming that Donghyuck needs it more than he does. Jeno is ruffling his hair and straightening his clothing, constantly asking if his cologne smells fine. Jaemin, meanwhile, is perched upon the counter of the stand, waiting anxiously. He’s biting his fingernails as he tries to calm his nerves.

Earlier that day, during school, Jaemin had sparked a conversation with you, hoping to open up an opportunity to invite you to the booth.

“Hey, y/n,” he says, trying to seem casual as he walks up to you in the library during the lunch period. From an outsider’s point of view, Jaemin might’ve seemed natural, suave even, with the way he swung his arms and his easy grin. For Jaemin, though, his legs felt like lead and his heart hammered in his chest, and he was so careful not to trip on his way to you that each step on the short path was carefully planned and placed.

You look up at him, eyes widened curiously. You smile when you realize it’s Jaemin. Your friend, sitting across from you, pays no attention and keeps her eyes trained on her phone. “Oh, hi, Jaemin! What’s up?”

Jaemin rests his arm on the back of your chair, carefully, and runs a hand through his hair. Trying to steady his voice, he says, “Are you running a booth for the festival tonight?”

“Ah, no. My homeroom is doing a face-painting stand, but other people have signed up to run it already. Are you?”

“Yup! My friends and I are doing a, uh, kissing booth.” Jaemin swallows, and adds quickly, “Maybe you wanna stop by?” He winks at you, but then quickly regrets it, wondering if he was doing too much.

You laugh. “I wasn’t actually planning on going, but maybe I will!” You return his wink playfully, and Jaemin nearly melts on the spot.

Now, in the frosty chill of the winter night, Jaemin nervously anticipates the festival. Soon, people start filing in, spreading out amongst the quad, lingering at booths and laughing as they walk past. Music and chatter fill the air. The kissing booth gains a crowd of students, consisting not only of giddy girls hoping to snag a kiss on Jaemin’s cheek, but also of sheepish boys giving out quick, awkward hugs, their main focus on the goodie bags lining the table. The boys take shifts, two at a time, allowing the crowd to file into two short lines. At times, the preference is obvious, and the boys laugh when a group of girls stops by, and all five of them line up in front of Jaemin instead of Donghyuck, who pouts disappointedly. One girl, pitying him, shuffles to the other side and places a quick kiss on Donghyuck’s cheek, who smiles contentedly.

The whole time, Jaemin looks for you. He searches for your face in the people that pass by and guiltily wishes it was you whenever he received a kiss on the cheek or a warm hug. At one point, Jeno taps him on the shoulder, and says, “Look!”, pointing to something away from them. Jaemin perks up hopefully, but is disappointed when his eyes follow Jeno’s finger to a hot cocoa booth near the stage at the front of the festival. “We should all go there and let Donghyuck run the booth by himself,” Jeno says, snickering.

Jaemin’s hope throughout the night almost dissipates completely, until he spots you walking from the direction of the stage, where the talent show was underway. You were by yourself, shouldering your way through a crowd of people in front of the sandwich booth. He brightens instantly, quickly moving to the front and shoving Renjun out of the way to take his spot. There were currently no customers, so his eyes follow you hopefully when you approach, but he quickly deflates again when you walk straight past him, not even noticing the mistletoe kissing booth. 

His friends crack up as they watch the scene unfold. Donghyuck pats his head and nudges him encouragingly. “You can go ahead, Jaemin,” he says, nodding towards the way you left. “No one’s really here anyway.” Jaemin beams at him thankfully, before throwing a jacket over his sweater. He hears his friends shout encouragingly after him, so he turns to wave at them before jogging away.

After wandering the festival a bit, Jaemin finds you by yourself in an isolated part of the school where the festival didn’t reach. You’re sitting on a small grassy slope that faces the city and overlooks the river. Your eyes are focused on the lights of the buildings and the way they reflect on the soft rippling of the water. He slows when he sees you, breath ragged from running. It comes out in puffs of air in front of him.

You hear his footsteps when he approaches, and you turn your head to see him standing there. He stands still, like a deer caught in headlights. You seem startled at first, but then you smile. “Oh, Jaemin!” you exclaim, laughing. “You scared me for a bit!”

“Sorry about that,” he says, running a hand through his hair nervously. You pat the spot on the grass next to you, inviting him to sit down. Jaemin steps towards you slowly, heart beating quickly under the layers of warm clothing.

You both start to speak at the same time.

“How’s the—”

“Why are you—”

The two of you laugh quietly, and you nod towards Jaemin to continue. “What are you, um, doing here?” You have your attention on him now, and it makes him nervous. He picks at the grass, only looking up at you occasionally. “I saw you earlier, and I wanted to say hi. But… you came over here, and I was curious. Not to sound like a creep or anything!” He shakes his head hurriedly.

You giggle and reply, “No, you’re fine. One of the people running the booth for our homeroom had to cancel, so I filled in for them. I’m just taking a quick break, y’know.” You were holding a small cup of hot cocoa in your hands, and you hand it to Jaemin. “Try it, it’s good.”

He looks at you, wide-eyed. He takes the hot cocoa from your hands and mutters a small thank you before bringing the cup to his lips. It tastes delicious, and it’s still warm. “Wow, this is good.”

“I know right?” You turn your head back towards the river. “How’s the kissing booth going?”

“It’s doing good. It was more fun than I thought it would be.” He sneaks a look at you as he takes another sip of hot cocoa. “You should’ve, uh, stopped by.”

“I was going to, actually. Like, right after this. To see you.” Jaemin nearly chokes on the drink. Placing the cup down, he whips his head to look at you. His mission burns in his mind even more now. It’s not even at the kissing booth. Should he just go for it?

“How much is a kiss, anyway?” you ask him. It’s when you turn to him, smiling brightly, lights reflected in your eyes like starlight, that any doubt in Jaemin vanishes and all he wants to do is kiss that wondrous smile on your face.

“I could give one to you for free, if you wanted,” Jaemin says quickly, wanting to use the confidence in him while it lasted. He shuffles through his sweater pocket and pulls out a small mistletoe from the booth. He dangles it in between you playfully, a teasing smile on his face. 

You laugh, before doing what Jaemin has been wanting to do to you for the longest time, and cupping his face to bring it closer to yours. Jaemin’s eyes flutter shut, and it feels like forever until your lips meet and his heart explodes in a flurry of delight. Your fingers are cold on his face, but they make him feel warm on the inside, like the hot cocoa. Your kiss is agonizingly soft and delicate, like a butterfly that had come to perch for a small, magical moment.

When you pull away, hands dropping from his face, Jaemin almost whines disappointedly, craving more. His ears are red and his heart hammers in his chest, but this time in the best way possible. You look back at him, blinking. Your face is rosy too, but Jaemin doesn’t know if it’s because of the cold or if it’s because of him.

“Wow,” you breathe. “Is there a coupon or something I can turn in for another one?”

This time, Jaemin takes the initiative, his hands going to your cheeks as his lips once again grace yours. He smiles into the kiss when your hands move to his sweater to pull him closer.

When you two pull away again to breathe, you laugh as Jaemin throws his arms around you, knocking you backward and both of you to the ground. He breathes you in, and you smell sweet like hot cocoa. Your hands go to his hair and your fingers start to play with his soft pink strands.

“I think I like you,” Jaemin says, pressing a kiss to your nose.

“I think I do, too.”


End file.
